Francisco this mornin'."

"Now, John Skoonly," and the alcalde's eyes rested steadily on the
witness's face as he settled back on his stump, "kindly tell the jury
and the people gathered here, what you know of the case now being tried
before them."

"I was on my way from San Francisco tew here," began the witness, "when
three days ago I wandered off th' main trail tew do a little huntin' an'
was throwed by my hoss an' broke my right arm. That took all th' hunt
out of me; an' I laid down under sum trees that growed 'long side a crik
tew try an' do sumthin' tew ease up th' pain an' tew git a little rest
afore I started back for th' trail.

"Wal, I reckon I hadn't ben thar more'n half an hour, when I heared a
screech that fairly lifted my hat off my head, a-comin' from th' open
valley, jest beyont th' trees whar I was a-lyin' in th' shade, an'
a-soundin' like sum feller was gittin' hurt mortal bad. I jumps up quick
an' runs tew sum bushes that growed a-treen me an' th' sound, an' looks
through 'em, a little cautious-like on account of my broken arm, an'
seed three men a-strugglin' on th' ground not more'n forty rods from
whar I was; an' th' next I knowed I heared a lot of yellin', an' seen
tew men jump out of th' bushes sum twenty rods below me, an' start
runnin' for them fightin' men. But, afore they'd made a dozen jumps, tew
of them men springs up from th' ground, th' other man didn't 'pear tew
have any spring left in him, but lay still, grabs up their rifles an'
hollers tew them runnin' men tew stop sudden, or they'd shoot; an' th'
men stops sudden, they havin' only pistols. Then th' tew men with rifles
yells for them tew git an' git quick, an' one on 'em fires his rifle;
an', I reckon, th' bullet must have come close, for th' tew men whirled
'bout like they was sum scart an' started back for th' bushes.

"Th' tew men now picks up th' body of th' third man, which hangs limp
like he was dead, an' flings it across th' back of one of their hosses
an' ties it thar. Then they mounts th' other tew hosses an' goes
a-ridin' off a-leadin' the hoss with th' dead body across its back ahind
'em; an' in ridin' off, they comes within a dozen rods of whar I was
a-hidin', an' I sees 'em plain, an' I was s'prised tew see that they
didn't look tew be much more'n boys; an' yit they 'peared tew have
killed a man!

"Y'ur honor," and the man paused and whirled partly around, and when he
continued again his voice was very solemn, "as sho